Clutch Problem?

[96ExpXLT]

I had the clutch go out on my 96 Explorer. Brought it to the shop and they replaced the master and slave cylinder and the rear main seal. I am now having trouble getting the car into gear at times. It does not grind, but it is hard to push the stick into gear. Sometimes takes 3 or 4 hard tries to get into gear. A couple of times it would not come out of gear, once in 5 (OD) and once in 1st. I have noticed that if I rev the engine a bit it will go into gear easier. This is while in motion.

Brought it back to the shop, and they say they can't replicate the problem. They say that the clutch is working fine.

It does have good pedal pressure. It just does not want to go in gear.

They say it could be gear synchronization or wear on the gears as the car has 263,000 miles on it, but it was not doing that before the clutch went out originally.

Any suggestions? What could it be?

 

[svt4cam]

I'm assuming they replaced the clutch also. That being the case I had the same problem with the 02 sport I bought recently. The dealer had replaced the clutch and you had to turn the car off sometimes to get 1st gear. I believe the new clutch was dragging on the flywheel just a bit keeping everything turning and making it difficult to engage gears at a stop and making shifting tough when moving. I was resigning myself to having to take the trans out to fix it when my wife used it last week to do her 80 mile hilly rural round trip commute to work because the battery in her Subaru got dome lighted. I drove the ex the next day and no more problems. I asked if she did anything unusual and she told me there is a stop sign on an uphill where there is always traffic behind her and you have to get on it hard to turn left because of sight problems with the intersection. So apparently she balanced the Ex with the clutch and reving the motor while waiting for a clear spot in traffic. My guess is she wore off a lttle clutch material in her unorthodox way and solved my problem. Thanks honey!!

 

[96ExpXLT]

Yes. They replaced the clutch as well.

So are you saying that this is something that may just wear itself down to functioning correctly? Or you just got lucky?

I would really like to know if this is something that the shop should fix based on the clutch replacement, or if it might be something else wrong. It was not doing this before the clutch went out.

Thanks.

 

[svt4cam]

I would talk to the shop and explain the situation 1st and find out what your warranty options are. Then tell them that you are willing to drive it for a thousand miles or so to see if it breaks in and takes care of itself if they will back it up if it doesn't get better. You also may want to change the gear box fluid in the meantime. That may help a bit also. I would without a doubt say that the problems you are experiencing are clutch and not gearbox related.

 

[96ExpXLT]

I have read several posts regarding changing fluid and improved shifting. I am wondering if that would help. They refilled with 2 qts of "ATF Fluid (Dextron or Mercon)". Would switching to something like Redline D4 or Royal Purple Synchromax make that much of an improvement?

Any other recommendations (fluid too full, too low, etc...)?

 

[96ExpXLT]

bump

 

[imp]

The Events

Transmission shifted OK, clutch failed.

2. Clutch replaced, transmission difficult to place in gear.

3. My guess? Clutch not releasing completely. Reason? Possibly air remaining in hydraulic release system, OR new clutch not of proper specs- possible disc thickness problem, or release mechanism problem in pressure plate.

I would definitely place the blame outside of the transmission itself, especially if it will shift into gear easily with the engine not running.

Just my opinion. imp

 

[drdoom]

I'm with imp, try bleeding it again.

 

[96ExpXLT]

Just checked and it seems to shift into each gear pretty easily when the engine is off.

So what can I tell the shop to convince them that this is a clutch problem? They think that the clutch is working fine. It has a good pedal, and they said that they can't replicate the problem.

I will call them and ask what parts were used. Hopefully they will give me an honest answer.

Any other suggestions?

 

[imp]

Just checked and it seems to shift into each gear pretty easily when the engine is off.

So what can I tell the shop to convince them that this is a clutch problem? They think that the clutch is working fine. It has a good pedal, and they said that they can't replicate the problem.

I will call them and ask what parts were used. Hopefully they will give me an honest answer.

Any other suggestions?

If the shop cannot replicate the problem, that means they are jamming the transmission into gear, ignoring the fact that there is insufficient clutch release to allow easy shifting. You confirmed this fact by determining shifting is easy with the engine not running, a point which should be emphasized with the shop. This would be the "prybar" you might use to get the shop to "bite the bag", admit something is wtrong, and yank the transmission out and determine the cause.

Continuing to force the shifter into gear will greatly stress your already-old synchronizers in the transmission. Their purpose is to bring the relative speed of the chosen gear up to that of the engine. This is very difficult with an insufficiently-releasing clutch, akin to shifting without using the clutch at all.

imp

 

[hotstang111]

its the clutch dragging i had the same problem when my clutch blew out a spring and it wedged itself to rub, shut the car off and its fine, ive also had alot of problems with slave cylinders going out, got a perfection clutch setup with a boot around it that seems to be working well

 

[96ExpXLT]

Well it took forever but I finally got the clutch fixed.

Took it back to the shop, and left it for a few days so that they could drive it around a bit to experience the probelm. They finally admitted that the clutch was not releasing completely. They replaced the entire clutch kit with a different model. It now works fine.

Thanks for everyone help. It was very frustrating but at least I got it fixed.

Thanks.